Today the modern Children’s literature market in Russia is dominated by books for young children and a large percentage is non-fiction, primarily mass market. In the world of fiction we find mostly re-edited classics, fantasy or detective novels. There is an alarmingly small number of editors who focus their attention on serious (what is known as socially significant) literature. Samokat is one of them.

Since 2003, we have been striving to provoke dialogue between generations and to challenge stereotypes. We focus on high quality children’s and YA literature and engage our young readers in significant topics while never forgetting the joy of reading.

The 2014 Foreign rights catalogue presents noteworthy Russian prose for children and YA. We carefully choose Russian titles, both modern and time-proven. Most of them receive important Russian literary prizes or can be found in the lists of nominees and winners of international awards.

Samokat titles are often recommended by the «White Ravens» list and have been successfully published: for instance, by Bayard & L’école des loisirs in France, Pearson in Spain, RCS Libri in Italy, Vivandra in Hungary, St James’s Publishing in the UK, Lauku Avize in Latvia, Xiaoduo Media in China and soon by Arthur A. Levine Books in the USA.

"Samokat" successfully carries out the mission of educator - publishes interesting samples of foreign children's literature. Thus the publishing house has the right style, the right outlook and the right principles. Without lectures and sentimentality "samokat's" books speak to children about life and about love, the difficulty in finding one's own identity and how important it is to be true to one's self. Even outwardly, "Samokat" books differ from the majority of modern children's books - covers have a good design, and have their own recognisable style.

Olga Murgina, Russian State Children's Library, 2006

"Samokat" clearly stands out among a long list of publishers as being "socially significant". It may not have thousands of books in circulation (a maximum of 5000), millions in turnover or huge profits but each book here is almost handmade. "Samokat" is not a factory, there's no conveyor belt only a small team of skilled craftsmen, working with enthusiasm at each edition.

Maria Poryadina, literary critic

Samokat Publishing House is small, but probably the most intelligent publishing house of children's literature in Russia and hasn't made a single slip-up so far.